“Love Notes” Paper Basket

Well, Valentine’s Day is coming up and so I’ve been thinking of some crafty projects that go along with that. I recently remembered a basket-weaving class I took forever ago. And I’m not not talking about it-felt-like-a-long-time-ago, I’m talking about when I was 11. (Yeah, I’ve been crafty since waaaayyyy back, LOL!) We learned how to make a few different kinds of baskets, and one was a cute little heart-shaped basket. This was one I ended up making for my family for every occasion for about a year – hey, I was proud of my new skill, and it was such a simple little project.

Back in the day, I actually used reed for these, like a real basket, and wood glue. If you want to work with reed, you’ll just need to soak it a little first. But of course, in keeping with my theme around here to use what you have, I thought I could probably replicate the pattern with some heavy-duty cardstock, or with paper. It’s not quite the same as creating and actual reed basket, but the pattern worked just fine for something light-duty, like a one-time Valentine!

So I thought I could make my husband a little hanging heart basket and put a candy bar in it. (I’m trying to be more romantic.) I hung it on the handle of the bedroom door so he would see it when he got home. I suck at love notes, so I decided to make it literally a love-note theme. :) And here’s how it turned out:

Anyway, it turns out, this project was every bit as quick and easy as I remember, and since I learned this one as a kid, your (older) kids might have fun with it too! I’m glad to give you the quick how-to!

What I used (substitute as you see fit):

Two sheets of paper, printed with a sheet music pattern (it might be fun to experiment with two different colors of paper!)

Craft glue

Paper Trimmer

Clips (clothespins would work too) to hold the paper as the glue dries

Ribbon to hang it

Goodies to put inside

I trimmed my paper into quarters the long way, and ended up with 8 strips 11 1/2″ x 2 1/8″. It doesn’t have to be exactly those dimensions, but your strips do all need to be the same size. To fold them up to work with them, I folded them in half lengthwise, then folded each of the edges inward, then folded it in half to get two-sided strips. If you are using cardstock, this may not be necessary, but I just used regular printer paper. See below for each step of the folding:

First, join two of your strips together by gluing them at a right angle. This is the point of your heart. I clamped the paper together as I went, but it dried quickly, so you’ll see my clips all over the place. Just use your best judgment for how much you want to clamp as you go.

Now, add three more strips (for a total of four) along the side, attaching them in an over-under pattern. Sorry my papers are all the same color – using two different colors would probably have helped to better illustrate!

Now, add three more strips along the other side of your heart, weaving them into the existing strips:

When you use all 8 strips, it should look like this:

That’s side one of your heart. We will call it the backside for the sake of simplicity right now. Now, to form the front – take the two INNERMOST strips, and bend them forward, and join the ends together at a right angle to form the point of your heart on the front side of your basket. Like so:

Now repeat the same weaving process, working with the innermost strips as you build your heart base up from the bottom point.

The goal is to have the strips at the rounded parts of the heart (where you’ll hang your ribbon) to criss-cross, leaving a nice narrow space to attach your ribbon. When you’ve joined all your strips, it should look like this:

It’s still open at the bottom, so all you have to do is glue the front side to the backside along the edges. I glued up about three strips’ length, so I would have room for my candy bar to pass through on the sides. You may want to glue more or less, depending on what you’re planning to fit in there. I clipped it closed for a few minutes while it dried.

Then I just attached my ribbon and stuffed it, smoothing out the curves, and left my love note for my husband. :)

Thanks so very much for sharing this awesome project and tutorial with us at our very first Inspire Me Monday party! I love anything heartsy so this is right up my alley! I've always been a fan of your blog so I hope to see you back next week – and I'd like to personally invite you to join me for the launch of Friendship Friday this week!

Hello, and welcome! I'm Adrianne, an artist, designer, and writer in western Michigan. I work from home with my husband and our kids.
I have a compulsion for daily creativity... sometimes it's baking, jewelry-making, paper crafting or giving new life to recycled and hardware store items. But with 2 young kids, time is short! My goal here at Happy Hour Projects is to share projects and tips that you can do in an hour or less. The ideas you find here are designed to save you time, save you money, and add a little creativity to your day, too!

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